Writing Challenge #23 - Podcast Inspiration (Write Nov. 23rd)

Hi folks

22 writing challenges down.

Only 8 to go!

And as of yesterday’s submissions of challenge 20, you folks are two thirds of the way there!
76 writers turned in material totaling 246 pages
(Again, just a little more than two full-length plays’ worth of pages in a single day.  Phew!)

Winter’s definitely starting to set in around the country but let’s warm up our hands and keep on typing.

On to the day’s challenge…

********************

Challenge #23 - Podcast Inspiration

Write Sunday, November 23rd - or earlier if you like
Due: Monday, November 24th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)



I listen to podcasts as background to a lot of the data entry work that’s part of my primary day job.  And invariably, every week something random pops out of the conversations that grabs my attention.

For instance, apparently there is a town called Poetry in the state of Texas

Poetry, Texas

Of course it has a website, which informs you, among other things, that the town hall is open on Thursdays from 1pm to 5pm.  That’s it.  You need to see on Thursday afternoons if you need something :)



Some intriguing metaphors for the current political situation arose that I wasn’t expecting.

Someone said that their mentor often told them:

“If you see a bear on a unicycle, you don’t criticize the bear’s technique.
It’s a bear on a unicycle.
You just stare at them and say, ‘Look at ‘em go.’”


Someone else commented that they often think of some political leaders as clowns.

“However, though a clown with a flamethrower may be a clown, they are still holding a flamethrower.”



The hosts of one podcast sometimes get a little punchy reading the ad copy and go way off script.

One sponsor was a job posting/recruiting website.

“It’s that time of year again, companies are hiring for seasonal roles.  Everything from Haunted Corn Maze Workers to Lead Elves and Real Bearded Santas to Snow Plow Drivers.”
“It is September”
“We’re in Los Angeles.”

Later in the same ad:

“I’m searching for a haunted corn maze Santa”
“Oh really? Bearded or unbearded?”
“Bearded, but I hope they can plow.”
“A Santa who can plow.”
“They’ve got it all.”
“They can help you sort through a lot, which I think you need to do.”
“That’s a tough filter for the candidate search.”

I had to rewind in order to be sure I was hearing them correctly.  They were completely off the rails that day.

(It’s also a heckuva Hallmark Channel holiday movie :)



On a completely different podcast, Vibe Check

Their guest on a recent episode was the author and activist adrienne maree brown
(and yes, she doesn’t use capital letters in her name)

Two of many things she said that struck me really stuck in my head so I wrote them down:

In the context of a discussion about working one’s way through dark times, and to embrace it rather than just be afraid of it:

“Going through the darkness is the best way to get to something new.”

And then literally out of nowhere elsewhere in the podcast, she said:

“Humans are just another form of water.  There’s rivers and ice and mist and fog, and there’s us.”


Humans are just another form of water.

I don’t know why, but I love rolling that around in my head.

So play around with what one or more of those bits of podcast randomness brings to your own mind.

Or, as always, just ignore this, write whatever you want and turn it in by the deadline.

Just write something… :)

**************************

If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can 

try 2021’s challenge #23: Hidden Histories

Or try 2022’s challenge #23: Location, Singer, Poet

Or try 2023’s Challenge #23: The Vanishing Point

Or try 2024’s challenge #23: Embarrassing Guitar

Or, you know, just ignore the prompts altogether and write whatever you want - as long as you’re writing and turning it in by the deadline, that’s all that matters for the challenge :)

*************************

How to submit your work for Challenge #23

We’re streamlining the process this year with a Google form, 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy-wyjz-IITaNsOkXM1zVQu_yrt_o7E4Vp2eQnr-8VNnu49w/viewform?usp=header

but you still have multiple options for how you submit your playwriting output for the day.

After you enter the required fields of 
email, 
name, 
challenge number (for today, that’d be 23 :) 
and page count, 
you can submit your writing in one of four ways:

Save your script as a PDF or Word Doc and upload that document to the Google form.

OR

Post your script online (on your personal website, as a blog post, or as a Google doc) and put a link to that online script in the Google form.

OR

Copy/paste your work from another source directly into the Google form

OR

Type directly into the Google form.

(Whichever option you choose, you can leave the other ones blank.)




Write Sunday, November 23rd - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Monday, November 24th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)

**************************

And because we call can get in our own way so easily, here’s some words of reassurance on the basics of this month:

Friendly Reminders - Answers To Common Questions:
(Follow the links to read me expounding on these items :)

Don’t Stress About Writing A Full Play

Don’t Stress About Format

Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

No.  Really.  I Mean It.  Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

Don’t Stress About Finishing An Idea (You Can Add Later)

Don’t Stress About “Succeeding” or “Failing”

Don’t Stress About What You’re Turning In Each Day

Don’t Stress about November 27th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2025 edition

**************************

And, just to reassure you, no, we are not going to be sticklers about you following these directions down to the minutest detail - the important thing is that you write, and then that you share it with us, so we can keep track of who’s writing every day.

Also, no, there is no penalty for finishing and submitting early - but it also isn’t a race, so give yourself all the time up til 12 noon Central Time on Monday to write if you need it.  When you’re done, you’re done.

Again, remember, it doesn’t need to be great, it doesn’t even need to be responding to this prompt (the prompt is just there so you’re not staring at a blank screen to start with no idea what to write about :)

Doesn't even need to be complete - you could have the beginning or the middle or the end of an idea, maybe two out of three but not all, that's still fine. This is all about getting things started, you can write more later. 

You have 7 more days to build on whatever you come up with today, if you want. 

Just get anything on the page, even if won't make sense to anyone else, as long as it makes sense to you.

It just needs to be something.

************************

And that something can be:



Lights up.

A corn maze.

A lost human drenched in sweat, looking around confused.

Around a shadowy turn in the corn maze, Santa approaches.

Lights down.

The End



That’s always your escape hatch, every day.

That’s your base line.

Build on it.

Have fun.

Don’t stress.

Make an impulsive decision and run with it.

Breathe.

You’ve got the day.

Just write.

And take good care of yourselves, and each other.

Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his) 

Writing Challenge #22 - Childhood (Write Nov. 22nd)

Hi folks

There’s some midday meetings for work going on, so I’m sending this one out a bit earlier than usual.

21 writing challenges down.

Only 9 to go!

Initial numbers for yesterday’s submissions for Challenge 19 look like this:
76 playwrights, with material totaling 265 pages
(Equally two more full-length plays plus a half-hour one-act to boot)

Now let’s get to the writing prompt for the day…

************************

Challenge #22 - Childhood

Write Saturday, November 22nd - or earlier if you like
Due: Sunday, November 23rd, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)



Threshold Theater Literary Associate Maren Findlay didn’t have any suggestions in the mix for challenges last year but she’s more than making up for it this year.  Here’s another pair of prompts that center around the concept of childhood:

“Write a scene that conveys something you wish you had heard/learned as a child”


Hard to imagine someone who doesn’t wish they’d known something or heard something when they were younger that could have made things different, easier, more interesting, less scary, any different path that different words might have opened up or urged you to pursue.

That’s just me riffing.  What does that prompt say to you?


If that one doesn’t conjure play ideas, how about this challenge:

“Write a conversation with a character that is the personification of the house you grew up in”


How would I personify my childhood home?  That’s fascinating.

For me, the first thing that leaps to mind is that, for me, different rooms are different people.

The basement is my grandfather, because that’s where he had his work bench and his photography dark room under the stairs behind his wall of tools.  That’s also where he set up the model train sets.  

But the basement is also my mother because that’s where the laundry was done, and where she cut my hair when I was a kid.  

The guest room is both my grandparents because that’s where they stayed when they visited for Christmas and Thanksgiving.  

The living room had the upright piano in it, so that was Grandma.

The driveway and basketball hoop on the garage is imprinted with a guy I knew in high school when we were in the cast of a community theater production of Dracula - he was just out of college and playing John Harker; I was a high school senior playing Renfield.  He’d drive me home after the show, we’d talk in his car, then get out and play basketball in the middle of the night.

But who could personify a whole suburban two-story house with a later addition of a family room out in back of the kitchen.  A flower garden, a vegetable garden, a back yard, a tool shed, access to the woods and a creek far out back (so much lawn to mow), a swing set, two bathrooms, a powder room, a dining room, a front hallway, a front hall closet full of board games, a living room, three bedrooms, an attic, a sewing room, a one-car garage, goldenrod bushes, towering pine trees, birch trees. White wooden columns, blue shutters, brick trim.

Wild how the details still all so vividly come to my mind’s eye, even after all these years.  No one in our family has set foot in that house or even driven by it in over thirty years.

Then again, maybe it’s not so much the place as it is the way the place made me feel.
What kind of person is that?

I’ve got to sit with that one a bit longer.  I’m tempted to ask Maren exactly what she meant by this one, but then again, I think I just want to see where it takes me.



Take either or both of those items and do with them what you will.

Or, you know, like all days, just write whatever you want and send it in by the deadline.

Have fun!

**************************

If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can 

try 2021’s challenge #22: Left Coast Theatre Prompts

Or try 2022’s challenge #22: Random Sentence Generator

Or try 2023’s Challenge #22: Self-Discovery (from Threshold Theater Technical Director and co-founder Nick Mrozek)

Or try 2024’s challenge #22: Sponge, Rhino, Tire Swing (from Threshold Theater Literary Associate Kate Cosgrove)

Or, you know, just ignore the prompts altogether and write whatever you want - as long as you’re writing and turning it in by the deadline, that’s all that matters for the challenge :)

**************************

How to submit your work for Challenge #22

We’re streamlining the process this year with a Google form, 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy-wyjz-IITaNsOkXM1zVQu_yrt_o7E4Vp2eQnr-8VNnu49w/viewform?usp=header

but you still have multiple options for how you submit your playwriting output for the day.

After you enter the required fields of 
email, 
name, 
challenge number (for today, that’d be 22 :) 
and page count, 
you can submit your writing in one of four ways:

Save your script as a PDF or Word Doc and upload that document to the Google form.

OR

Post your script online (on your personal website, as a blog post, or as a Google doc) and put a link to that online script in the Google form.

OR

Copy/paste your work from another source directly into the Google form

OR

Type directly into the Google form.

(Whichever option you choose, you can leave the other ones blank.)



Write Saturday, November 22nd - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Sunday, November 23rd, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)

****************************

And because we call can get in our own way so easily, here’s some words of reassurance on the basics of this month:

Friendly Reminders - Answers To Common Questions:
(Follow the links to read me expounding on these items :)

Don’t Stress About Writing A Full Play

Don’t Stress About Format

Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

No.  Really.  I Mean It.  Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

Don’t Stress About Finishing An Idea (You Can Add Later)

Don’t Stress About “Succeeding” or “Failing”

Don’t Stress About What You’re Turning In Each Day

Don’t Stress about November 27th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2025 edition

***************************

And, just to reassure you, no, we are not going to be sticklers about you following these directions down to the minutest detail - the important thing is that you write, and then that you share it with us, so we can keep track of who’s writing every day.

Also, no, there is no penalty for finishing and submitting early - but it also isn’t a race, so give yourself all the time up til 12 noon Central Time on Sunday to write if you need it.  When you’re done, you’re done.

Again, remember, it doesn’t need to be great, it doesn’t even need to be responding to this prompt (the prompt is just there so you’re not staring at a blank screen to start with no idea what to write about :)

Doesn't even need to be complete - you could have the beginning or the middle or the end of an idea, maybe two out of three but not all, that's still fine. This is all about getting things started, you can write more later. 

You have 8 more days to build on whatever you come up with today, if you want. 

Just get anything on the page, even if won't make sense to anyone else, as long as it makes sense to you.

It just needs to be something.

************************

And that something can be:



Lights up.

A mother in the front hall calls her teenage son down from his bedroom because he has a guest.

The boy, Jeff, descends the stairs.

It’s his (not so) secret crush, Phillip, who somehow figured out where he lived and drove over.

They stand there looking at one another.

JEFF: Hi.

PHILLIP: I figured we should talk.

JEFF: Yeah?

PHILLIP: Yeah.

Lights down.

The End




That’s always your escape hatch, every day.

That’s your base line.

Build on it.

Have fun.

Don’t stress.

Make an impulsive decision and run with it.

Breathe.

You’ve got the day.

Just write.

And take good care of yourselves, and each other.

Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his) 

Writing Challenge #21 - Altered Photography (Write Nov. 21st)

Hi folks

Once you’ve turned in your pages by the 12 noon Central Time deadline on 11/21 for challenge #20, you have officially completed two-thirds of the November Playwriting Challenge.

20 challenges down.

Only 10 challenges to go!  

Today is #10 in our final countdown to the end of the month and the end of this year’s challenge!

Congratulations on getting this far, with the finish line in sight!

Well done, one and all :)

Yesterday’s submissions for Challenge 19 tallied up like so:
79 playwrights, with material totaling 279 pages
(Equalling roughly two full-length plays plus another 40 minute one-act)

It'd sort of be theatrical malpractice of me not to mention the day I’m sending this out to you all (Thursday 11/20/25) is Give to the Max Day here in Minnesota, where every worthy cause you can think of asks for your support (it's actually part of the much larger Give to the Max month of November - so they don't destroy their servers on just a single day as they've done in the past.)

Threshold Theater is asking for support, too, of course.

If you're finding this month-long series of writing prompts useful to your process, and you can afford to toss us a little more than the original $15 you put in the kitty to take part in this challenge, Threshold certainly wouldn't say no :)

(If you can’t, no worries.  I know money’s tight, for writers more than most.)

Donations (along with ticket purchases at our events) help us to pay all the artists - playwrights, actors, directors and designers - involved in our ongoing New Play Readings Series and productions like our spring 2024 show “4Play With Threshold Theater” featuring a collection of short works from five female playwrights (four plays plus a monologue, hence the name :), our spring 2025 production of the play "Spellbound" (which came up through the New Play Reading Series), and the upcoming spring 2026 production "More 4Play With Threshold Theater" (featuring four new short works).

So give if you can.  Queer theater makers thank you.

Here's the link: https://www.givemn.org/story/Kssucf


So let’s get you today’s prompt…


************************

Challenge #21 - Altered Photography

Write Friday, November 21st - or earlier if you like
Due: Saturday, November 22nd, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)



This one’s a series of visual jumping off points.

Photographer Jeffrey Czum takes evocative shots of cityscapes and buildings in various states of disrepair out in the middle of bleak landscapes and then alters the images with doctored signs, imprinted words, or phrases in neon.

Check out the gallery of images on his website and Instagram feed for the full effect


Here are some of my favorites that got me thinking:

A brick storefront in the middle of a barren landscape, an old red dusty sports car in front
Neon on top of the building saying 
“What doesn’t kill me better run”

A line of neon handwritten words strung on the wire where the traffic lights swing and bob above the road in the facing light, saying:
“Text me when you get home”

A cigarette butt with lipstick on it, and the typed words:
“I’m somebody’s crazy ex”

Upright piano falling apart on the beach, also the top of it’s on fire
Neon words above it saying 
“I f*cking love this song!”

A weathered old basketball net out by a grassy field and on the faded backboard are the words:
“Let’s Make Out With The Lights Off”

A faded blue port-potty in the middle of the desert with the phrase painted on it:
“Romance is not dead.”

A skyscraper at sunset and lit up on the outside of the top five floors are the words:
“You were a mistake I’d make twice”

An old beige and brown two-tone pickup truck parked out in back of a beige stucco building with the words painted on it saying
“You make me forget what Mondays feel like.”

A pink boxy two story wooden building, a couple of palm trees, an old blue car out front, seemingly in the middle of a desert, and painted in black letters on side of building
“F*ck it, let’s see what happens”

The view of a city multi-lane Intersection from above at night
Painted on the road in the middle of the intersection, the words 
“You and me and not a f*cking care in the world”

The kind of lighted roadside sign you regularly see outside a hotel or church or restaurant
Letters on it spelling out
“I honestly have no f*cking idea what I’m doing”

An orange-tinted art deco trailer home out in the desert at night, with its own wooden porch
All the lights on inside and neon letters across the top spelling out the phrase
“my hands all over you”

A lighted highway sign over the road at night with the message:
“I just want to see you naked”

Under a blooming bush of pink flowers hovering over the sidewalk sit three plastic trash bins, blue, black and green, and the green one on the end has a message on the side:
“I think we were made for each other”



Forlorn buildings
Barren landscapes
Road trips
The feeling of the world at night
Seeing messages everywhere, either from someone else, or the thoughts in your head manifesting in the real world around you
Love against all odds
Just enjoying being alive, and taking crazy chances



Find an image that grabs you, or an idea that it conjures in your mind
Write a scene that recreates the way the image makes you feel



Give one of those a go.

Or combine different items somehow, if you like.

Or, as always, ignore those suggestions entirely and write whatever you want.

Just write.

*************************

If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can 

try 2021’s challenge #21: Technology Gone Awry

Or try 2022’s challenge #21: Mystery Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Or try 2023’s Challenge #21: Flower People

Or try 2024’s challenge #21: Lamp Posts, Crows and Colors

Or, you know, just ignore the prompts altogether and write whatever you want - as long as you’re writing and turning it in by the deadline, that’s all that matters for the challenge :)

*************************

How to submit your work for Challenge #21

We’re streamlining the process this year with a Google form, 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy-wyjz-IITaNsOkXM1zVQu_yrt_o7E4Vp2eQnr-8VNnu49w/viewform?usp=header

but you still have multiple options for how you submit your playwriting output for the day.

After you enter the required fields of 
email, 
name, 
challenge number (for today, that’d be 21 :) 
and page count, 
you can submit your writing in one of four ways:

Save your script as a PDF or Word Doc and upload that document to the Google form.

OR

Post your script online (on your personal website, as a blog post, or as a Google doc) and put a link to that online script in the Google form.

OR

Copy/paste your work from another source directly into the Google form

OR

Type directly into the Google form.

(Whichever option you choose, you can leave the other ones blank.)



Write Friday, November 21st - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Saturday, November 22nd, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)

*************************************************************************************************

And because we call can get in our own way so easily, here’s some words of reassurance on the basics of this month:

Friendly Reminders - Answers To Common Questions:
(Follow the links to read me expounding on these items :)

Don’t Stress About Writing A Full Play

Don’t Stress About Format

Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

No.  Really.  I Mean It.  Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

Don’t Stress About Finishing An Idea (You Can Add Later)

Don’t Stress About “Succeeding” or “Failing”

Don’t Stress About What You’re Turning In Each Day

Don’t Stress about November 27th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2025 edition

***********************

And, just to reassure you, no, we are not going to be sticklers about you following these directions down to the minutest detail - the important thing is that you write, and then that you share it with us, so we can keep track of who’s writing every day.

Also, no, there is no penalty for finishing and submitting early - but it also isn’t a race, so give yourself all the time up til 12 noon Central Time on Saturday to write if you need it.  When you’re done, you’re done.

Again, remember, it doesn’t need to be great, it doesn’t even need to be responding to this prompt (the prompt is just there so you’re not staring at a blank screen to start with no idea what to write about :)

Doesn't even need to be complete - you could have the beginning or the middle or the end of an idea, maybe two out of three but not all, that's still fine. This is all about getting things started, you can write more later. 

You have 9 more days to build on whatever you come up with today, if you want. 

Just get anything on the page, even if won't make sense to anyone else, as long as it makes sense to you.

It just needs to be something.

************************

And that something can be:


Lights up.

Two people on a bus or subway or light rail train standing near one another.

They both start playing the same song at the same time.

We hear the song out loud they hear in their headphones or ear buds.

It’s a banger.

They both start bopping along to the tune in their own ways.

Then they sense a person nearby moving to the same rhythm in their peripheral vision.

They look up cautiously, but still kind of dancing.

They start mouthing the same words at the same time.

Confirmation.

They start grinning like idiots.

They don’t get any closer.

They just keep dancing together at opposite ends of the train car or bus.

The music keeps blaring.

Lights down.

The End




That’s always your escape hatch, every day.

That’s your base line.

Build on it.

Have fun.

Don’t stress.

Make an impulsive decision and run with it.

Breathe.

You’ve got the day.

Just write.

And take good care of yourselves, and each other.

Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his) 

Writing Challenge #20 - Weasel (Write Nov. 20th)

Hi folks

We have arrived at the two-thirds mark!

Challenge 20 out of 30.

Well done, everybody!

Let’s keep rolling into that final third.

Rough numbers from yesterday’s submissions for challenge 17 look like this:
76 playwrights, with material totaling 237 pages
(So basically the equivalent of another two full-length plays, give or take 3 pages.)

You might look at your output some days and not think a page or two adds up, but basically yesterday’s numbers is just all those playwrights pitching in with about 3 pages each, some more, some less.  

But you spend enough days cranking out a couple of pages, and you’ve got yourself the rough draft of a play :)

Even if you only did a page a day every of November, you’ve got yourself a one-act!
Two pages a day, that’s 60
Three pages a day, that’s 90
Four pages a day, that’s 120, or a full-length play.

Just something to think about.

And if you miss a day, don’t beat yourself up about it.
Just write again the next day.

And now, today’s challenge…

********************************

Challenge #20 - Weasel

Write Thursday, November 20th - or earlier if you like
Due: Friday, November 21st, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)


Threshold Theater Literary Associate Maren Findlay really outdid herself this year in the suggestion department.  I love these random ideas of hers.  Today’s prompt:


“Write whatever scene you want but one character turns into a weasel part way through.”


Now, you could maybe avoid going the Kafka/Metamorphosis route by making the character a metaphorical weasel, just a squirmy little jerk that refuses to take sides or take any responsibility for their actions, but c’mon, have some fun with it.

A character turns into a weasel in the middle of an ordinary conversation.

Or in the middle of an argument.

Or in the middle of a romantic date or a love scene.

Or in the middle of a job interview - is it the job applicant or the potential future boss that turns into a weasel

Or in the middle of a high stakes situation where nothing can go wrong and now… a weasel?
(Defusing a bomb, cracking a safe, perhaps just running a performance - could a weasel complete the assignment of a stage manager or light board operator or a musical accompanist?)

My first point of entry for how I might tackle it myself was sort of halfway between completely avoiding it, and fully embracing the real weasel of it all by having it be backstage somewhere and the two characters involved in my scene were putting on costumes, and halfway through the scene, one of them is fully outfitted in a weasel costume.  I realized that was still kind of cheating, but if you can’t see your pages going the full weasel as it were, that’s a possible strategy to split the difference.

However your weasel appears, take the absurdity and run with it.

Or, as with any other day in this challenge, just write whatever idea comes to you, even if it has absolutely nothing to do with the day’s prompt.

Up to you, as always.

Just write something.

Have fun!

************************

If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can 

try 2021’s challenge #20: Your Favorite Story

Or try 2022’s challenge #20: Regional Slang

Or try 2023’s Challenge #20: Reverse Order (from Threshold Theater Literary Associate Kate Cosgrove)

Or try 2024’s challenge #20: Leaves, Lighter, Love (from Threshold Theater’s co-founder and Managing Director David Schlosser)

Or, you know, just ignore the prompts altogether and write whatever you want - as long as you’re writing and turning it in by the deadline, that’s all that matters for the challenge :)

*********************

How to submit your work for Challenge #20

We’re streamlining the process this year with a Google form, 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy-wyjz-IITaNsOkXM1zVQu_yrt_o7E4Vp2eQnr-8VNnu49w/viewform?usp=header

but you still have multiple options for how you submit your playwriting output for the day.

After you enter the required fields of 
email, 
name, 
challenge number (for today, that’d be 20 :) 
and page count, 
you can submit your writing in one of four ways:

Save your script as a PDF or Word Doc and upload that document to the Google form.

OR

Post your script online (on your personal website, as a blog post, or as a Google doc) and put a link to that online script in the Google form.

OR

Copy/paste your work from another source directly into the Google form

OR

Type directly into the Google form.

(Whichever option you choose, you can leave the other ones blank.)



Write Thursday, November 20th - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Friday, November 21st, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)

************************

And because we call can get in our own way so easily, here’s some words of reassurance on the basics of this month:

Friendly Reminders - Answers To Common Questions:
(Follow the links to read me expounding on these items :)

Don’t Stress About Writing A Full Play

Don’t Stress About Format

Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

No.  Really.  I Mean It.  Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

Don’t Stress About Finishing An Idea (You Can Add Later)

Don’t Stress About “Succeeding” or “Failing”

Don’t Stress About What You’re Turning In Each Day

Don’t Stress about November 27th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2025 edition

***********************

And, just to reassure you, no, we are not going to be sticklers about you following these directions down to the minutest detail - the important thing is that you write, and then that you share it with us, so we can keep track of who’s writing every day.

Also, no, there is no penalty for finishing and submitting early - but it also isn’t a race, so give yourself all the time up til 12 noon Central Time on Friday to write if you need it.  When you’re done, you’re done.

Again, remember, it doesn’t need to be great, it doesn’t even need to be responding to this prompt (the prompt is just there so you’re not staring at a blank screen to start with no idea what to write about :)

Doesn't even need to be complete - you could have the beginning or the middle or the end of an idea, maybe two out of three but not all, that's still fine. This is all about getting things started, you can write more later. 

You have 10 more days to build on whatever you come up with today, if you want. 

Just get anything on the page, even if won't make sense to anyone else, as long as it makes sense to you.

It just needs to be something.

*********************

And that something can be:


Lights up.

Two people walk across the stage together, hand in hand.

About halfway across the stage, one person finds themselves holding hands with an enormous weasel instead.

They pause.

The weasel shrugs its rodent shoulders sheepishly.

The human smiles.

The two continue walking, hand in paw, eventually disappearing offstage.

Lights down.

The End





That’s always your escape hatch, every day.

That’s your base line.

Build on it.

Have fun.

Don’t stress.

Make an impulsive decision and run with it.

Breathe.

You’ve got the day.

Just write.

And take good care of yourselves, and each other.

Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his) 

Writing Challenge #19 - Hidden Herald (Write Nov. 19th)

Hi folks

You’re all still cranking along, churning out more pages every day, which is good to see!

The output is holding pretty steady day over day, which is impressive.

The rough numbers for yesterday’s submissions for challenge 16 look like this:
77 playwrights, with material totaling 276 pages 
(same number writers, and more pages, than yesterday)
(The equivalent of two full-length plays again, plus a half-hour one act this time :)

Keep up the good work!

Happy writing!

And I know I say it every day but some of you need to hear it, 
if you don’t manage to write one day this month, don’t beat yourself up about it, 
just get up the next day and write something.

So let’s get you that writing prompt, and I’ll get back to all the rest of that…

***************************

Challenge #19 - Hidden Herald

Write Wednesday, November 19th - or earlier if you like
Due: Thursday, November 20th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)

 

As outlined in previous years’ challenge posts, I often have to traverse the skyways of Saint Paul in order to deliver checks to the bank for my day job in fundraising for higher education.  But earlier this year, a handful of those skyways were shut down because a particular set of buildings got closed down, so parts of the route became inaccessible. Now I have to walk outside to do the walk to and from the bank. It’ll get a bit more challenging in winter but for the spring and summer and fall it hasn’t been so bad.  Fresh air, sunshine and breezes, for starters.  Plus, I see a different side of the city that I missed walking above it rather than down on the sidewalks.  Sidewalks in both Minneapolis and Saint Paul are full of unexpected art sometimes.

On the sidewalk route to the bank in Saint Paul, for instance, I ran across a large sticker with a QR code and a pigeon, hailing access to something called the Hidden Herald.

And it has a note on it that it’s city approved, so the street cleaners aren’t to remove it but leave it in place, and there’s a email address to contact with questions.

The pigeon has a cartoon dialogue bubble that says “Hello!  I’m Herald.  You’ve found a hidden story.  Scan the code to listen.”

And below the QR code there’s a logo for Wonderlust Productions… hey, wait a minute, I know those guys, they’re a theater company!

Sure enough, my friends Leah and Alan have branched out a bit in their collaborative theater creations and commissioned two seasons of short audio plays that are accessed through stickers on the sidewalk and posters in storefronts all around town, unpacking the stories and history of the city and its people.

You can check out the details on their website but here’s some of the overview of the project:

2nd Season of Hidden Herald is out now!

What do you see when you walk downtown St. Paul? What do you think you know about this place by looking at the building facades, the people driving past, sitting on park benches, or sleeping on the sidewalk? We think there’s a lot more to know than meets the eye about the people and places who make this city special and make this city run.

Wonderlust Productions is excited to release the second season of Hidden Herald on July 11th. Accessible via QR code on the streets of St. Paul, Hidden Herald tells the hidden stories of the city. Did you know there’s a dragon in Lake Phalen? A spaceship hovering above Union Depot? Who IS the MPR Raccoon really?

The second season returns with two kid-oriented series; an adult scavenger hunt; some twisted Twilight Zone-type series, St. Paul’s gangster history, the Hamm’s Beer Bear, and more. This year, we’re expanding and you can find Hidden Herald stickers in Downtown, Lowertown, around Lake Phalen, and up and down Payne Avenue.

Here’s how you can listen:

1. Be intrepid!
Wander downtown St. Paul and look for a sticker like this on the ground. Most are on sidewalks, and some are posters in store windows. Scan the QR code to listen to the audio play. Simple. Free!
Follow our social media channels for extra information about plays and their locations.

2. Get a beautiful guided tour!
Get a beautiful paper map, designed by local artist Jephemera, to carry with you on your adventures. Pick up at one of our partner locations (listed below) and go! Reuse and share as you like.

3. Get a digital navigator!
Get a customized google map to help you navigate between the plays.

4. Listen online!
Visit our Virtual Adventure to access all of the plays online.

Note: Despite our best efforts, we cannot guarantee that all stickers will be available at all times. If you believe a sticker is missing, please email Frances at frances@wlproductions.org, and we will do our best to replace it in a timely manner.


My playwright friend Anne and a composer friend of hers collaborated on a similar idea, geocaching sound files from their musical tribute to arctic explorers around the walking path of a local nature preserve.



Now, you could either think about creating your own walking adventure/short audio plays.

Or you could use the device of it inside a play, people leaving clues or messages for one another, communicating that way because they can’t communicate in a normal way (for any number of reasons, take your pick, it doesn’t take a pandemic to isolate or separate people so they have to find clever ways to close the distance and form connections).

Perhaps it’s a scavenger hunt, an anniversary present, a last will and testament, a game of cat and mouse.

It could be whimsical, melancholy, life and death, totally up to you.

Audio books shouldn’t have all the fun.

Sometimes it’s nice to have a play in your ears, too.

Or someone talking to you that you know.

Or that you miss.

Or that you’re trying to meet.

There in your head with you, and yet not there at all.

Take any of that and swirl it around and see what you come up with.

If it gives you an idea, great - go for it!

If not, as always, you can just write whatever you want, ignore the prompt.  Just keep on scribbling and typing.

Happy writing!

**************************

If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can 

try 2021’s challenge #19: Random Phrase Generator part 3

Or try 2022’s challenge #19: Frogs

Or try 2023’s Challenge #19: Mystery Office or Newspaper Home

Or try 2024’s challenge #19: Planning, Pride, Fright or Language

Or, you know, just ignore the prompts altogether and write whatever you want - as long as you’re writing and turning it in by the deadline, that’s all that matters for the challenge :)

****************************

How to submit your work for Challenge #19

We’re streamlining the process this year with a Google form, 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy-wyjz-IITaNsOkXM1zVQu_yrt_o7E4Vp2eQnr-8VNnu49w/viewform?usp=header

but you still have multiple options for how you submit your playwriting output for the day.

After you enter the required fields of 
email, 
name, 
challenge number (for today, that’d be 19 :) 
and page count, 
you can submit your writing in one of four ways:

Save your script as a PDF or Word Doc and upload that document to the Google form.

OR

Post your script online (on your personal website, as a blog post, or as a Google doc) and put a link to that online script in the Google form.

OR

Copy/paste your work from another source directly into the Google form

OR

Type directly into the Google form.

(Whichever option you choose, you can leave the other ones blank.)




Write Wednesday, November 19th - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Thursday, November 20th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)

*****************************

And because we call can get in our own way so easily, here’s some words of reassurance on the basics of this month:

Friendly Reminders - Answers To Common Questions:
(Follow the links to read me expounding on these items :)

Don’t Stress About Writing A Full Play

Don’t Stress About Format

Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

No.  Really.  I Mean It.  Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

Don’t Stress About Finishing An Idea (You Can Add Later)

Don’t Stress About “Succeeding” or “Failing”

Don’t Stress About What You’re Turning In Each Day

Don’t Stress about November 27th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2025 edition

*************************

And, just to reassure you, no, we are not going to be sticklers about you following these directions down to the minutest detail - the important thing is that you write, and then that you share it with us, so we can keep track of who’s writing every day.

Also, no, there is no penalty for finishing and submitting early - but it also isn’t a race, so give yourself all the time up til 12 noon Central Time on Thursday to write if you need it.  When you’re done, you’re done.

Again, remember, it doesn’t need to be great, it doesn’t even need to be responding to this prompt (the prompt is just there so you’re not staring at a blank screen to start with no idea what to write about :)

Doesn't even need to be complete - you could have the beginning or the middle or the end of an idea, maybe two out of three but not all, that's still fine. This is all about getting things started, you can write more later. 

You have 11 more days to build on whatever you come up with today, if you want. 

Just get anything on the page, even if won't make sense to anyone else, as long as it makes sense to you.

It just needs to be something.

**************************

And that something can be:



Lights up.

A person walks on.

They find a sticker on the ground with a QR code.

They snap a picture, follow a link, access an audio file.

Suddenly someone is there, just over their shoulder, telling them secrets.

Lights down.

The End




That’s always your escape hatch, every day.

That’s your base line.

Build on it.

Have fun.

Don’t stress.

Make an impulsive decision and run with it.

Breathe.

You’ve got the day.

Just write.

And take good care of yourselves, and each other.

Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his) 

Writing Challenge #18 - Phrases That Could Lead You Anywhere (Write Nov. 18th)

Hi folks

We’re over two weeks in, and over halfway completed overall, so keep on writing!

And if you miss a day, don’t beat yourself up, just get up the next day and start writing again :)

Initial numbers on yesterday’s submissions, for Challenge 15, look like this:
77 playwrights, with material totaling 260 pages
(So, yet again, the equivalent of two full-length plays, plus an extra 20 page short play this time)

Let’s get you that writing prompt…


************************

Challenge #18 - Phrases That Could Lead You Anywhere

Write Tuesday, November 18th - or earlier if you like
Due: Wednesday, November 19th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)


This is our final contribution for the year from Threshold Theater’s Managing Director and co-founder David Schlosser.  The one thing these three phrases from his list have in common is I read them and each on could have gone in literally any direction in my head as I pondered scenarios.

Back when I was helping to run the Playwrights’ Center’s previous version of the Roundtable weekly new play reading series (a whole other story…), we got in the habit of having a ten minute play festival at the end of each year before we took a little break for the summer (vacations, Minnesota Fringe Festival season, etc.)  

And part of the challenge was that we would collectively vote on what the common elements would be, ingredients that everyone had to fit into their play somehow.  It was always fascinating to see the wildly different takes playwrights could come up with all starting with the same ingredients.  Often one of the common elements we all had to include in our plays was a line of dialogue.  So imagine that you have to find a way to include one of these lines in your writing pages for the day somehow:

“I’m sorry I just can't believe how nervous I am to do this with you.”

“I don't know what happens to us when we shed the mortal coil that binds us to this life…”

“I was there. It was more than some bullshit slogan on a T-shirt or a blurb in some book.”

You can try to use more than one of the three lines if you want to but don’t create too big a hurdle for yourself.  One line will do.

What would you write if you had to include one of the three lines above in the dialogue of your characters?

Take any one or all of these and conjure up some pages for a potential play you can work on after November is past.  Just get something rolling over the next 24 hours and turn in whatever you have by the noon deadline on 11/19.

Or if any of them bring a completely different idea to mind, go with that instead.

Just write something.

***************************

If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can 

try 2021’s challenge #18: Words With No English Equivalent

Or try 2022’s challenge #18: Games

Or try 2023’s Challenge #18: Snapshots 3 (from Threshold Theater’s co-founder and Managing Director David Schlosser)

Or try 2024’s challenge #18: The Ending Is The Beginning (from Threshold Theater Literary Associate Kate Cosgrove)

Or, you know, just ignore the prompts altogether and write whatever you want - as long as you’re writing and turning it in by the deadline, that’s all that matters for the challenge :)

**************************

How to submit your work for Challenge #18

We’re streamlining the process this year with a Google form, 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy-wyjz-IITaNsOkXM1zVQu_yrt_o7E4Vp2eQnr-8VNnu49w/viewform?usp=header

but you still have multiple options for how you submit your playwriting output for the day.

After you enter the required fields of 
email, 
name, 
challenge number (for today, that’d be 18 :) 
and page count, 
you can submit your writing in one of four ways:

Save your script as a PDF or Word Doc and upload that document to the Google form.

OR

Post your script online (on your personal website, as a blog post, or as a Google doc) and put a link to that online script in the Google form.

OR

Copy/paste your work from another source directly into the Google form

OR

Type directly into the Google form.

(Whichever option you choose, you can leave the other ones blank.)




Write Tuesday, November 18th - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Wednesday, November 19th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)


**************************

And because we call can get in our own way so easily, here’s some words of reassurance on the basics of this month:

Friendly Reminders - Answers To Common Questions:
(Follow the links to read me expounding on these items :)

Don’t Stress About Writing A Full Play

Don’t Stress About Format

Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

No.  Really.  I Mean It.  Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

Don’t Stress About Finishing An Idea (You Can Add Later)

Don’t Stress About “Succeeding” or “Failing”

Don’t Stress About What You’re Turning In Each Day

Don’t Stress about November 27th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2025 edition

***************************

And, just to reassure you, no, we are not going to be sticklers about you following these directions down to the minutest detail - the important thing is that you write, and then that you share it with us, so we can keep track of who’s writing every day.

Also, no, there is no penalty for finishing and submitting early - but it also isn’t a race, so give yourself all the time up til 12 noon Central Time on Wednesday to write if you need it.  When you’re done, you’re done.

Again, remember, it doesn’t need to be great, it doesn’t even need to be responding to this prompt (the prompt is just there so you’re not staring at a blank screen to start with no idea what to write about :)

Doesn't even need to be complete - you could have the beginning or the middle or the end of an idea, maybe two out of three but not all, that's still fine. This is all about getting things started, you can write more later. 

You have 12 more days to build on whatever you come up with today, if you want. 

Just get anything on the page, even if won't make sense to anyone else, as long as it makes sense to you.

It just needs to be something.

***************************

And that something can be:



Lights up.

Three people, each carrying homemade protest scenes and/or wearing T-shirts with similar sentiments, appear in different quadrants of the stage in isolated pools of light.

They each begin to speak their stories to the audience:

PROTESTER 1
“I was there. It was more than some bullshit slogan on a T-shirt or a blurb in some book.”

PROTESTER 2
“I don't know what happens to us when we shed the mortal coil that binds us to this life…”

PROTESTER 3
“I’m sorry I just can't believe how nervous I am to do this with you.”

They turn and look at one another onstage.  It is clear that somehow their stories will intersect.

But for now…

Lights down.

The End




That’s always your escape hatch, every day.

That’s your base line.

Build on it.

Have fun.

Don’t stress.

Make an impulsive decision and run with it.

Breathe.

You’ve got the day.

Just write.

And take good care of yourselves, and each other.

Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his) 

Writing Challenge #17 - Period Piece (Write Nov. 17th)

Hi folks

You are a very prolific crew!

Initial numbers on the work turned in for Challenge 14 look like this:
79 playwrights, with material totaling 244 pages
(Or the equivalent of two full-length plays)

Initial statistics on week 2 look like this
Average number of playwrights submitting any given day in week two was 80
Total number of pages for week two was 1,913

The first two weeks of the challenge total up as follows:
Average daily number of playwrights across the first two weeks is 85
A total of 1,193 different submissions, totaling 4, 043 pages
(Or the equivalent of 33 full-length plays, plus another long one-act of 83 pages)

Phew!

Keep up the good work!

Happy writing to you as we sail into week three!

So without further delay, let’s get you that writing prompt…

************************

Challenge #17 - Period Piece

Write Monday, November 17th - or earlier if you like
Due: Tuesday, November 18th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)


The suggestion list from Threshold Theater Literary Associate Maren Findlay is on fire this year, just full of fun topics to riff on.  Today we have the following

"Write something set during your favorite historical era (the Gold Rush, Salem witch trials etc)"

The most sprawling example that leaps to my mind is August Wilson’s Century Cycle (or Pittsburgh Cycle), ten plays written between 1982 and 2005, each one taking place in a different decade of the 20th century.

Gem of the Ocean (set in 1904)
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (set in 1917)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (set in 1927)
The Piano Lesson (set in 1936) (Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama in 1990)
Seven Guitars (set in 1948)
Fences (set in 1957) (Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama in 1987)
Two Trains Running (set in 1969)
Jitney (set in 1977)
King Hedley II (set in 1985)
Radio Golf (set in 1997)


Lauren Gunderson in many of her plays takes a historical figure she finds fascinating (often female figures in science) and creates a play around them:

Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight (set in the 1700s)
The Revolutionists (set during the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror)
Ada and the Engine (set in the 1830s)
Silent Sky (set in the late 1800s/early 1900s)
The Half-Life of Marie Curie (set in the 1910s)
Earthrise (set in 1969 around the moon landing)



The late playwright Robert Patrick wrote a series of seven one-act plays across the decades from the 1920s to 1980s chronicling snapshots of gay life in “Untold Decades: Seven Comedies of Gay Romance”



You can also take history more personally.  For instance, my grandmother lived to be 100, from the 1910s to the 2010s.  That’s a lot of history to cover.  My mother lived from the 1930s to the 2010s.  I was born in the 1960s and I’m still kicking around in the 2020s.

Back in 2002, I was asked to team up with a composer friend Rob Hartmann when he was commissioned to write a six person, one set, musical that had something to do with Christmas.  Somehow, I convinced him it would be fun to have those six people play eighteen characters in four interwoven stories that took place across four generations of an American family, all set in the same living room in the days preceding Christmas in 1921, 1951, 1971, and 1998.  We called it “The Hopes and Fears of All The Years.”  (I can’t do anything the easy way, apparently.)


Fictional characters set in other moments in human history.
Historical figures brought to life on stage.
Mining your own personal history, or the periods of time you and your family lived through.
Create your own period piece.

If any of those amuse or intrigue you, or make you think of some other concept that you want to play around with, go forth and write something.

Or, as usual, ignore all this and just do whatever you want.

Just write something.

************************

If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can 

try 2021’s challenge #17: Holidays

Or try 2022’s challenge #17: Writing For Someone Else

Or try 2023’s Challenge #17: Occam’s Raisin

Or try 2024’s challenge #17: The Gilded Lily

Or, you know, just ignore the prompts altogether and write whatever you want - as long as you’re writing and turning it in by the deadline, that’s all that matters for the challenge :)

*************************

How to submit your work for Challenge #17

We’re streamlining the process this year with a Google form, 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy-wyjz-IITaNsOkXM1zVQu_yrt_o7E4Vp2eQnr-8VNnu49w/viewform?usp=header

but you still have multiple options for how you submit your playwriting output for the day.

After you enter the required fields of 
email, 
name, 
challenge number (for today, that’d be 17 :) 
and page count, 
you can submit your writing in one of four ways:

Save your script as a PDF or Word Doc and upload that document to the Google form.

OR

Post your script online (on your personal website, as a blog post, or as a Google doc) and put a link to that online script in the Google form.

OR

Copy/paste your work from another source directly into the Google form

OR

Type directly into the Google form.

(Whichever option you choose, you can leave the other ones blank.)



Write Monday, November 17th - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Tuesday, November 18th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)

**********************

And because we call can get in our own way so easily, here’s some words of reassurance on the basics of this month:

Friendly Reminders - Answers To Common Questions:
(Follow the links to read me expounding on these items :)

Don’t Stress About Writing A Full Play

Don’t Stress About Format

Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

No.  Really.  I Mean It.  Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

Don’t Stress About Finishing An Idea (You Can Add Later)

Don’t Stress About “Succeeding” or “Failing”

Don’t Stress About What You’re Turning In Each Day

Don’t Stress about November 27th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2025 edition

***************************

And, just to reassure you, no, we are not going to be sticklers about you following these directions down to the minutest detail - the important thing is that you write, and then that you share it with us, so we can keep track of who’s writing every day.

Also, no, there is no penalty for finishing and submitting early - but it also isn’t a race, so give yourself all the time up til 12 noon Central Time on Tuesday to write if you need it.  When you’re done, you’re done.

Again, remember, it doesn’t need to be great, it doesn’t even need to be responding to this prompt (the prompt is just there so you’re not staring at a blank screen to start with no idea what to write about :)

Doesn't even need to be complete - you could have the beginning or the middle or the end of an idea, maybe two out of three but not all, that's still fine. This is all about getting things started, you can write more later. 

You have 13 more days to build on whatever you come up with today, if you want. 

Just get anything on the page, even if won't make sense to anyone else, as long as it makes sense to you.

It just needs to be something.

***************************

And that something can be:


Lights up.

A woman missing her late husband stands by the family Christmas tree, looking at the lights on the branches, and the ornaments from different generations of the family.

Her college age son hovers in the shadows just outside her view.

The spirit of her grandmother appears in the shadows nearby.

The spirit of her mother appears in the shadows nearby.

The spirit of her brother’s best friend who she had a crush on as a girl appears in the shadow nearby.

The spirit of her dead husband, wishing he could comfort his wife and son, appears in the shadows nearby.

The woman stands, surrounded by spirits and memories of family and friends, past and present.

The lights fade to black.

The lights on the tree wink out.

The End



That’s always your escape hatch, every day.

That’s your base line.

Build on it.

Have fun.

Don’t stress.

Make an impulsive decision and run with it.

Breathe.

You’ve got the day.

Just write.

And take good care of yourselves, and each other.

Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his) 

Writing Challenge #16 - Snark (Write Nov. 16th)

Hi folks

With this prompt, we’re now officially over halfway there!

Once again, well done, everyone.

Whether you write every day or every other day or once a week, pat yourself on the back.

And if you don’t get to writing on a particular day, don’t beat yourself up about it.  
Life happens.  
Just try again to write the next day and keep on going.

Just write.

Yesterday’s submissions for lucky challenge 13, in raw numbers thus far:
76 playwrights, with material totaling 251 pages
(So the equivalent of two more full-length plays, plus another ten minute play for good measure)

Let’s get you that writing prompt…

***************************

Challenge #16 - Snark

Write Sunday, November 16th - or earlier if you like
Due: Monday, November 17th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)



I often wonder exactly what the mindless algorithm of social media thinks of me as it tries to work out a reliable formula to feed me content that’’ll keep me scrolling and pausing on the various apps.

At least it thinks I have a sense of humor.

There were a couple of fun, snarky ads for writer adjacent items for purchase

Since I recently restocked my supply of blank journals, the internet thought I might also appreciate the following:

Grievance Journal
A Burn Book for the Discerning Misanthrope

The back over says:

"Seeking Happiness?
This book may not be for you, then.
At best all we have to offer is a safe space for you to come and vent about the various annoyances and inanities plaguing the modern world. If you’re not so much a “glass half full”type as you are a “the glass is empty and shattered into sharp shards all over the kitchen floor” type, then by all means grab a copy.
(Or ten. It’s not like things are getting better out there, right?)"

Inside are inspirational gems heading up blank pages saying things like:

"I wish running away from my problems was better exercise."

"She is clothed in anxiety and loungewear."

"What places annoy you and why?
Whether it’s the bland tedium of the DMV or the incessant blinking and noise of a casino, which places would you like to never visit again?"

"What injustices make you angriest?
Rage about how ridiculously unfair life is.
Is it wealth inequality? Dirtbag celebs getting a pass from society?
What wrongs seem never to get righted?"

"What did you want to say to someone but couldn’t?
Whether you wanted to tell off a terrible boss or demand that a nosy neighbor mind their own business, we’ve all had moments of wanting to let someone have it but exercising restraint.  Let your rant loose below."

All that seems like interesting fodder for you and your characters.

There was also a variation on the inspirational card deck genre.

I mentioned the useful “Observation Deck” from Naomi Epel back in the first year of the challenge in conjunction with of the first week’s prompts

How about…?

Sinister Affirmations
Mantras for Formidable Women

A card deck with humorous, and slightly menacing or vengeful words of encouragement for daily life.

Some examples:

“Take up space
Godzilla would never shrink to make men comfortable.
Make them flee in terror when they see you coming.
Refuse to yield, be a menace”

“Do one thing every day that brings you joy.
Get outside.  Wander a forest.
Accept the tutelage of a powerful ancient witch.
Become the sinister force that occupies the forest and terrifies the townsfolk.
Treat yourself.”

“There is no rule that says you can’t be a captivating forest pixie AND an intimidating ancient hell goddess.
Hecate had three forms.
You needn’t commit to just one.”

“Normalize unleashing a malevolent poltergeist on men who won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

“Practice self care like a Venus Fly Trap.
Stay hydrated and destroy whatever pest invades your personal space.”

“It’s okay if you need a break.
It’s okay if you need a hug.
It’s okay if you need help performing an occult ritual that will enthrall a dark and unspeakable evil.
Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself.”

“You deserve the best.
The foggiest of cemetery strolls.
The silkiest coffin lining.
The most haunted of castles.
The fiercest of hellhounds.
Don’t let anyone tell you you’re just a recluse the townsfolk tell stories about - you are an immortal countess with a horrifying secret.”

“Once I replace my hair with serpents and develop a glare that turns people to stone it’s all over for my haters.”

“We get so worried about being pretty.
Let’s be pretty bizarre.
Pretty haunting.
Pretty formidable.”

“In case no one told you today:
Your teeth look sharp.
Your visage terrifies men
The crown of femurs atop your head is dazzling.”



There are so many more, but those are my favorites today.

Both of these items can be found on 

BoredWalk.com

(Get it?  Boardwalk, BoredWalk?  Sound alike words with different meanings/spellings - also fun - but we’ve touched on homophones before…)



Between the grievance journal and the sinister affirmations, there’s got to be some fodder in there you can mine for the day’s writing.

See if any of that inspires you, even if it’s to do the exact opposite of the things the phrases are conjuring up.

As always, if that doesn’t do it for you, just write whatever you like.

Just write something.

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If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can 

try 2021’s challenge #16: Poetry

Or try 2022’s challenge #16: Brains

Or try 2023’s Challenge #16: “How did I get here?” (from Threshold Theater co-founder and Technical Director Nick Mrozek)

Or try 2024’s challenge #16: First Times and Regrets (from Threshold Theater’s co-founder and Managing Director David Schlosser)

Or, you know, just ignore the prompts altogether and write whatever you want - as long as you’re writing and turning it in by the deadline, that’s all that matters for the challenge :)

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How to submit your work for Challenge #16

We’re streamlining the process this year with a Google form, 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy-wyjz-IITaNsOkXM1zVQu_yrt_o7E4Vp2eQnr-8VNnu49w/viewform?usp=header

but you still have multiple options for how you submit your playwriting output for the day.

After you enter the required fields of 
email, 
name, 
challenge number (for today, that’d be 16 :) 
and page count, 
you can submit your writing in one of four ways:

Save your script as a PDF or Word Doc and upload that document to the Google form.

OR

Post your script online (on your personal website, as a blog post, or as a Google doc) and put a link to that online script in the Google form.

OR

Copy/paste your work from another source directly into the Google form

OR

Type directly into the Google form.

(Whichever option you choose, you can leave the other ones blank.)



Write Sunday, November 16th - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Monday, November 17th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)

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And because we call can get in our own way so easily, here’s some words of reassurance on the basics of this month:

Friendly Reminders - Answers To Common Questions:
(Follow the links to read me expounding on these items :)

Don’t Stress About Writing A Full Play

Don’t Stress About Format

Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

No.  Really.  I Mean It.  Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt

Don’t Stress About Finishing An Idea (You Can Add Later)

Don’t Stress About “Succeeding” or “Failing”

Don’t Stress About What You’re Turning In Each Day

Don’t Stress about November 27th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2025 edition
 

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And, just to reassure you, no, we are not going to be sticklers about you following these directions down to the minutest detail - the important thing is that you write, and then that you share it with us, so we can keep track of who’s writing every day.

Also, no, there is no penalty for finishing and submitting early - but it also isn’t a race, so give yourself all the time up til 12 noon Central Time on Monday to write if you need it.  When you’re done, you’re done.

Again, remember, it doesn’t need to be great, it doesn’t even need to be responding to this prompt (the prompt is just there so you’re not staring at a blank screen to start with no idea what to write about :)

Doesn't even need to be complete - you could have the beginning or the middle or the end of an idea, maybe two out of three but not all, that's still fine. This is all about getting things started, you can write more later. 

You have 14 more days to build on whatever you come up with today, if you want. 

Just get anything on the page, even if won't make sense to anyone else, as long as it makes sense to you.

It just needs to be something.

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And that something can be:



Lights up.

Medusa wanders through with a hand mirror, not looking directly at it herself of course.

She just wants to reflect her visage at various items around the room - her cat, her houseplant, a pesky housefly.

All of which immediately turn to stone and flop over.

Medusa grins, grooming her head of snakes, and walks offstage again, leaving statues of various shapes and sizes in her wake.

Lights down.

The End



That’s always your escape hatch, every day.

That’s your base line.

Build on it.

Have fun.

Don’t stress.

Make an impulsive decision and run with it.

Breathe.

You’ve got the day.

Just write.

And take good care of yourselves, and each other.

Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his)